A Farewell to Mr. Abreu

Visual and Performing Arts Teacher Angel Abreu will say goodbye to Deerfield after five years of teaching. Mr. Abreu has taught courses in the Visual and Performing Arts and the Philosophy and Religion departments, supervised co-curricular assignment Drawing and Painting, and served as the advisor for Albany Road, Deerfield’s literature and arts magazine.

Mr. Abreu graduated from Deerfield in 1992 and assumed a teaching position in 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.“I got a call from Dean of Faculty at the time, John Taylor, six weeks before school, and he was wondering if there’s any way that I [could] show up six weeks later,” he said. 

Graphics Editor Ryan Bai ’26, a student who studied philosophy under Mr. Abreu and a member of Albany Road, described him as, “a charismatic philosopher, artistic, supportive beyond just a teacher…[Mr. Abreu’s classes are] the epitome of Deerfield philosophy, the most original philosophy you can ever get at a high school level.” 

Mr. Abreu offers students his “five year challenge” of returning to teach at Deerfield for five years. This challenge came from a personal interaction with one of his teachers back in his days as a Deerfield student. “My teacher of mine when I was here as a student, Sue Carlson… wrote just a wonderful letter [in a book she gave him] … ‘Angel, it would be amazing if you could come back and teach here,’” he recalled. 

Looking forward, Mr. Abreu will be moving back to Maine where he will devote more time to work on art projects. He plans on returning to teaching in the ’26-27 school year. “It’s been the experience of a lifetime,” Mr. Abreu reminisces.